kungfoodude

We did have an option(trade) but I do get that replacement is basically draft or nothing. I agree we criminally overpay on past performance(see CMC deal as a result example) but I don't know that gambling on quite literally the highest DB contract in NFL history is a good idea. Especially because of those healthy issues. Even more so because....he really hasn't consistently been elite. I love the player and I absolutely want to keep him around but the money is going to make that pretty difficult. If he spends the next two seasons dinged up again, he's probably literally going to be a cap casualty with no real compensation at all. It's just way more in the freewheel gambling realm than I am comfortable with.

Brian Thomas Jr. He is very, very good.

We are just going to disagree. I think that if you looked at a metric(PFF or maybe AV) you would find us in the bottom 5. Also if you did a subjective look at over all rosters and compare them to our WR corps, you are going to have a very difficult time making an argument against this being a bottom 5 unit. Because of the youth, there is definitely upside but AT, XL and Coker are not scaring anyone overall.

I see no reason why that wouldn't generally be the range of expected wins. Say 5-7. I think that is well within what we should be expecting as of today. The draft or further roster moves may move that line but I would like to hear the justification for this roster suddenly being massively better.

I don't think you will see a CB eclipse that until maybe next offseason. I don't believe there are any imminent deals for guys on rookie deals. The FA market does not have anyone that should be getting anywhere near that.

Yeah, I really don't like either of those contract options, TBH. I think roughly equivalent players can be had in the draft for nickels, comparatively. Oh well, we will see how it works out.

He isn't going to get that.

"Blowing up" is hyperbolic. They have been handing out massive contracts for 2-3 years now so eventually they were going to be forced to make tough choices. Plus they are now gonna have to actually pay their QB something above a dollar store rate. This was a predictable situation(there had been several articles on it over the past two seasons). The question is how much of an impact it will have on their overall outcome. Is it a retool or a mild rebuild?

Yeah, the Horn deal is bananas. He is genuinely not a top 10 player at his position, even when healthy. They are paying him for future performance and, TBH, I don't see it going well. Let's hope we are all wrong and he uses it as motivation to be the best. Moehrig is an interesting one. He is really going to have to play well to justify that, IMO.

I agree, I think he is a rotational guy but he has a top 20 contract at the position, which is completely nuts. That was my biggest heartburn. I don't have an issue adding some rotational pass rushing juice, I am all for it. But damn.....at that money???? Jesus.

I looked at 26 and we have about $89 mil but that is for 26 players with two contracts still yet to be posted. Overall, that's not great. Not terrible but we still have to fill out half a roster with moderately limited resources. Lots of time to tinker, though. There are 5 total void hits for 2026.

The investment overall in non-premium positions is eye opening, for sure.

I think a couple of deals still haven't posted. Plus, you figure we have the cap for the rookie deals and we probably sign some other warm bodies along the way. Ideally, we try to roll at least half that number. You have to consider we have two "premium" positions that decisions will need to be made on in the coming future, QB and LT. Those will be large chunks of money if those players are retained.

Here is are the current players on our team that have a top 15 AAV(per OTC) in their position group. Specialists were not included, as they rarely occupy much actual cap space. Damien Lewis: 8th LG Chuba Hubbard: 11th RB Robert Hunt: 3rd RG Taylor Moton: 10th RT Derrick Brown: 6th IDL Jaycee Horn: 1st CB Trevon Moehrig: 5th S

I don't either. I think it was a massive overpay and panic move. Overall free agency has been a pretty mixed bag for us, IMO. But it was last offseason too.

Oh Rodgers being an indecisive ***** again? Who saw that coming?!!!

Currently 31 players on contract in 2026 with $89,178,390 in cap space per OTC. However, 5 of those players are just void deals and 2 of the players the financial terms of their contracts have not been disclosed yet. So, we really aren't in great cap shape for 2026 at the moment. Lots more moves still on the table to see how it shakes out.

I will say we are accumulating a fair amount of players with substantial void years on their contracts. That isn't uncommon but we have to be careful that we don't go full Saints.

OTC shows it as: $26,699,732 Spotrac shows it as: $27,791,607

The part that keeps being infuriating about most of our whiffs is they are immediately apparent. It's rarely a "well maybe they will adjust and development" scenario. It's started a turd, ended a turd. That seems to be the Panthers draft strategy in the Tepper era. Just keep accumulating turds and watering them in the hopes they will eventually start sprouting flowers.

Yeah, I am okay with just regular bad as an upgrade to comically/historically bad. Show some progression, at least.

Flacco has had a very Vinny Testaverde existence. Curious to see how long his career lasts.

Well you just have to get a guy like Brown in this defense. We need a space eater/run stopper at NT. We haven't had that and it showed. I agree Brown was likely to happen with or without Williams. My issue with Wharton is that he has even less flexibility than Jones. He is a pass rush specialist only. So keeping him on the field for three downs makes our defense worse against the run, which is not desirable at all.

I mean, I agree that we basically took a larger pool of money and got POTENTIALLY basically three averagish rotational guys for a bigger chunk of money. That's not great bang for the buck.....MAYBE. Conversely, if Williams ends up being just an average player, did we get any better and how do you pivot and unload that whale of a contract? I think in general either side of this coin has some financial malfeasance. With Williams you are giving out the Horn contract again. A player that has high potential but has really done very little to deserve being one of the highest paid players at the position. And a rotational guy on an amazing line, to boot. With Brown, Wharton and Jones you have at least one massively overpaid and substantially worse contract than even Williams with the Wharton deal. Another rotational guy but without anywhere near the perceived upside nor even the true body of work. All that being said, we have aggravating factors that actively work against us. I have no doubt we are one of the bottom 5 destinations for free agents if you DON'T overpay. Additionally, we are so insanely bad on that front 7 that all these backup caliber/rotational guys are likely to play significantly more snaps here because of how poorly this roster is constructed. So maybe this slight upgrade overall is actually worth more in terms of quality of the defense?

Mykel Williams is very unlikely to ever be an elite pass rusher, IMO. He also seems far more suited to being a 4-3 end than an EDGE in our scheme. For those reasons, I would be disappointed to see that as the pick at 8. I can stomach it as a trade down scenario.